An illustration for a poem by Julia Goddard, ‘From the German of Uhland’. This image depicts the listener’s moment of passing (in agony – or in ecstacy?): the neighbour plays ‘once more’ and death (ironically) provides the air (or breath) for the organ. This image exemplifies Sandys’s art at its most unsettling, notably in the way in which it contrasts the three poses of the main figures – one dying, one alive, one an emblematic figure of death. It calculatedly recalls the example of German wood-engraving of the period, while also invoking Renaissance allegories about the shortness and futility of earthly pleasures.

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Scanned image and caption by Simon Cooke. Text and formatting by Simon Cooke. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.it